Manchester United remain determined to sign Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund this summer, but an inability to agree personal terms with the player and negotiate an agent fee with his representative is holding up any deal with the German club, sources have told ESPN.
United have been given the green light by Dortmund to speak to the England winger and his representative, although direct contact between the two clubs has been limited as a result of the impasse with the player's camp.
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Sources have told ESPN that United are confident of striking a deal with Dortmund once, when, or if, it gets to the stage of negotiating a transfer fee with the Bundesliga side.
But sources have also said that there remains a wide gulf between the expectations of the Sancho camp and United's view of the 20-year-old's salary demands. The fee required by the player's agent to negotiate the deal is also too high for United to contemplate agreeing to.
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made Sancho, who left Manchester City for Dortmund in an £8 million transfer in Aug 2017, his top transfer target this summer.
But the club are also searching for additions in other parts of the squad, as well as looking to dispense with out-of-favour players, and with United losing between £4m and £5m for every home game played without paying spectators during the COVID-19 restrictions, there is a determination within Old Trafford to work within the new financial realities created by the pandemic.
Sancho has been undergoing preseason preparations with Dortmund at their training camp in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, and their sporting director, Michael Zorc, said earlier this month that the player would spend next season with the club after United failed to seal a deal before their Aug. 10 deadline.
Despite Dortmund's deadline passing without a transfer being agreed, sources have said that United remain keen to complete a deal, but there is still no sign of a significant breakthrough.